One of the most dramatically underreported aspects of government's partnership with casinos is the extreme debt collection practices used by casinos against citizens- practices which are authorized and supported by the state. It is one of the ways this public policy contributes to the rising unfairness and inequality in American life.
The Boston Globe recently ran a front page story in its Sunday edition looking at the collection practices of Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun, two of the nation's larger casino operators. It highlights how the casinos won dozens of court judgements that placed property liens on people's homes for gambling losses suffered at the casinos. The story includes an eyebrow-raising statement by an oft-quoted casino lawyer where he said he hadn't "heard of a casino company that goes after homes."
Because of our work in states across the country, I know for certain that's not true. One of our citizen leaders, Kathy Gilroy of Illinois, found several property liens filed by casinos just in her one county. But I've never seen a state by state list of debt collection practices by casinos. The issue has been virtually ignored despite its critical importance.
We have set out to compile this information. But we need you to please do a little research about what your state allows casinos to do to collect gambling losses, and then we need you to send it to us, preferably by email. Here is the basic info we need:
1) Does your state allow casinos to place liens on the property of citizens, (most commonly, their homes) and even garnish wages to collect outstanding gambling losses, no matter if they are commercial casinos, tribal casinos or slot parlors?
2) Please tell us whatever you can about your state's policies on casinos lending money to citizens. Some sample questions: Can casinos issue loans (often called "markers")? Do they charge interest or are the loans interest-free (often the loans are interest-free because the casino knows the citizen is going to lose the money gambling soon after they receive it)? What steps, if any, are casinos required to go through in order to lend the money? Please include all relevant web links and citations so we can accurately source your info with journalists.
You can email your research to me at the address above, which is preferred. If that's not possible, you can mail it to our office below. If you have questions, please call me at (202) 567-6996.
On a different note, in my op-ed published today in the New Hampshire Union Leader on the eve of the NH House casino vote, I wrote that while many state leaders say they are committed to fighting unfairness and inequality, their policy of sponsoring casinos is actually intensifying the very unfairness and inequality that they decry. And the most perfect example of it is this: a casino is the only product or service where the people who profit from it and promote it don’t use it. You can read the full text of my column here.
If you support our mission and work, please participate by contributing $10 or more today to help sustain it.
With gratitude,
Les
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Les Bernal
National Director
Stop Predatory Gambling
"Ending the unfairness and inequality produced by government sponsorship of casinos and lotteries."
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